Principal's Report - Mr Pitt

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Welcome to the final newsletter for Term 2. We made it! A sincere thank you to the Fairvale community in supporting everything that has been communicated to you during the term. We’ve continued to implement COVID-smart guidelines across the school, and I thank the teaching staff, the students and our families for their mighty effort. It was lovely to end the term with our two End of Semester Celebration Assemblies – lots of smiles from everyone. Wonderful job everyone!

BIKE VISITS WITH MR PITT

This last fortnight I have been very busy visiting Playgroup and our specialist RFF Programs – Library, Music and Visual Arts. Read more about my visit below:

Playgroup– On Wednesday morning I was very excited to visit Playgroup. When I arrived, children were finishing off their snacks. Then the boys and girls sat on the floor and we sang the welcome song. I liked hearing lots of confident speakers. Next Mrs La Robina read ‘Where is the Green Sheep?’. The children enjoyed the story but the most fun was when everyone got to paint their own sheep. Thank you to the Playgroup children and mums and dads – it was great to see you all!

Library RFF – Visiting RFF classes is one of my favourite bike visits every year. After book borrowing time in Library RFF, Miss Marjanac selected a lovely book for me to read to 2/3N for Refugee Week. The book was called ‘My Two Blankets’. It was about hope, friendship and acceptance. Also, during borrowing time, Mia found my favourite picture book ever – ‘The Old Man Who Loved to Sing’. It was one of the first books I read to a class over 28 years ago. Sadly, though, I look more and more like the old man!

Music RFF – In Music RFF, 6B have been focusing on reading music whilst playing an instrument. Children used recorders, drums, glockenspiels and xylophones; some were metal and some were wooden. 6B did an amazing job! I was also lucky enough visit 2/3N during their music lesson. The focus was on beat and some children used instruments to keep the beat. We all sang a catchy song to help us identify beat. It was a lot of fun.

Visual Arts RFF – Lastly, I visited 4T during their Visual Arts lesson. I enjoyed viewing everyone’s artwork making sure they were focusing on the task. Children were using paint to create lines of tints and shades. It was pleasing to see everyone participating and enjoying the lesson. Great job!

I would also like to congratulate our RFF teachers as they have one of the most challenging jobs in the school - Mrs Buenaventura – Visual Arts, Mrs Olivera – 3-6 Music, Ms Jesudason – K,2 Music, Mrs

La Robina – 1 Music and Ms Orwin – Library (but for the moment it is Miss Marjanac).

Check out some of the photos in this edition of the newsletter.

PARENT/ TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Thank you to all the parents/carers who attended the Parent/Teacher interviews this week. The registrations this year were the highest they have been in several years. It was lovely to see so many of you attend and I am hoping you found the interview informative. It is such a powerful and important moment for a parent/carer and teacher to connect; we value the way Seesaw connects us, but nothing beats face to face interviews. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all of our teachers for taking part in the interview process; everyone played an important role. I would also like to thank our translators; some of whom were school-based whilst others were booked to attend the afternoon. Without this resource, it would make our job much harder. If you were unable to attend, please contact the school as I am sure the teacher will ensure they get to meet with you next term.

TERM 2 IN REVIEW

Term 2 highlights include:

ANZAC Day Ceremony
FRANKIE DAY
3/4 Zion participating in Hip Hop dance program
Selective High School for some of our Year 6 students
Straight Sight vision testing – some of our students now wear glasses!
3-6 Cross Country Carnival (School, Zone and Sydney South West)
Mother’s Day Stall
Debating
Outdoor classroom day
3-6 Athletics Carnival
5S Drama workshop
Parent Café on-site workshops and excursions
Premier’s Spelling Bee
Principal’s Morning Tea
SSWSSA Orienteering Day
K-2 and 3-6 Celebration Assemblies
K-6 Parent/ Teacher Interviews
Public Speaking Finals – Stage 2 and Stage 3
Attendance Rewards Disco Day – on Friday.
PSSA – Season 1 Finals
Check-in Assessment for Years 4 and 6
Kindergarten Farm excursion
National Simultaneous Storytime
National Sorry Day
Reconciliation Week
Walk Safely to School Day
Wear it Yellow Day
Aboriginal Education Kids Workshop
Flag Raising Ceremony at Fairfield City Council

SCHOOL APP CHANGES

We will be transitioning to a new school app in Term 3. The app is actually the NSW Education Parent App. The app will streamline communication between schools and parents and carers with features such as push notifications to your phone. Besides Fairvale PS information, it will have:

News feed
My schools – you can add other schools
Events
Newsletters
Enrolment
Learning resources – an easy way to located resources to support parents and children.

You will find out more information about the Parent App and our new payments to school system called School Bytes, in the parent section of this newsletter.

SCHOOL SWIMMING AND WATER SAFETY

This year 180 students from Years 2-6 will be have the opportunity to participate in the school’s swimming and water safety program at Prairiewood Leisure Centre. The program is for students who are non and/or weak swimmers. The program will assist students to sustain confidence whilst in the water as well as focus on basic survival skills to help keep children and their families stay safe around water. It still amazes me that there so many young people who cannot swim today; this is skill that needs to be taught from a young age. Once the student numbers reach 180, the program will be closed.

This year the program will operate in Term 3 - Weeks 7 and 8 for 10 days, with the children travelling by bus to the venue every day. Due to the scheduled maintenance being completed at Fairfield Leisure Centre, we have had to move the lessons Prairiewood Leisure Centre. This means an increase in costing, however, due to the importance of the program, the school will cover a substantial amount of the cost.

The total cost for the 10-day program was going to be $131.11 - daily pool entry ($6.50 per day = $65) and daily bus fare ($6.11 = $66.11). The school will subsidise the entire bus fare. This means the total cost for the program has gone from $131.11 to $65. This year’s school swimming and water safety program will cost $65 per student.

More information will be shared, along with a payment plan in Week 1 next term. If your child is in Year 2 to Year 6, and fits the criteria outlined above, I would strongly encourage you to allow your child to participate. I am hoping we can fill all 180 spaces.

REPEATED: STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK

All adults on site will be healthy and ready to work and we expect the same from our children and their families. If children are unwell at school, you or your nominated emergency contact will need to collect them immediately. Please make sure your contact details are up to date. Check out the link below.

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/infectious/influenza/Pages/default.aspx

Life in Australia Survey (srcentre.com.au)

Wishing everyone a wonderful vacation period. Be safe, be active and have loads of fun. Term 3 kicks off for children on Tuesday 18 July, 2022.

Have a great fortnight,

Anthony Pitt

Principal

I respect and acknowledge First Nations people as the traditional owners of the land on which I work, live and visit.

Learning Hub > Parents and carers (nsw.gov.au)

Testing positive to COVID-19 and managing COVID-19 safely at home | NSW Government

Advice for families (nsw.gov.au)

Translated documents are here >>>>>>>> COVID smart measures for schools (nsw.gov.au)

https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/rights-and-accountability/complaints-compliments-and-suggestions/guide-for-parents-carers-and-students

Premier’s Back to School NSW program to get your kids ready for back to school

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we prepare for another year of learning in 2023, you can now apply for the Premier’s Back to School NSW program, offering $150 worth of vouchers (3 x $50 vouchers) to help pay for school supplies like school uniforms, shoes, bags, textbooks and stationery.

Every primary and secondary school student in NSW is eligible for the vouchers.

You can apply for and access your vouchers in your MyServiceNSW account, in the Service NSW app, by calling Service NSW on 137788 or by visiting your local Service Centre External Link.

To be eligible, your child needs to be a NSW resident and enrolled in a NSW primary or secondary school in 2023.

For more information, visit the Service NSW Website External Link.

Kind regards,

Anthony Pitt

Principal